Astros discover the art of the walk and receive some perfect relief

Walk this way

How do you win a game with half the hits of your opponent like the Astros did to the Reds on Wednesday? Walk nine times, and it’s very doable, especially if you don’t issue one free pass yourself.

Beating that path to first base hasn’t always been doable for the Astros, who entered Wednesday’s game last in the league, averaging 2.5 walks per game.

But they started early, with four of their nine on the first trip through the batting order against an ineffectively wild Edinson Volquez, and it really paid off. All four of the runners who scored were on base because of the walk or in Brett Wallace’s case in the third inning, replaced Hunter Pence on a fielder’s choice after Pence walked.

“You’re just conscious of what’s gone on before you got up there,” explained Brian Bogusevic, who drew the second of back-to-back-to-back walks in the second inning that led to two runs.

“You’re not up there auto-take, but you want to be aggressive with maybe a smaller zone,” Bogusevic said.

Bogusevic and J.R. Towles led the way with two apiece, and Towles set up the RBI part of Pence’s RBI double that won the game when Towles drew a five-pitch walk off Mike Leake.

The nine walks were easily the most of any game this season as the Astros had not drawn more than six, and they were one short of the most drawn by any National League team in a game this year.

No set plan for Keppinger

Jeff Keppinger will begin a rehab assignment of yet-to-be determined length Thursday when he joins Class AA Corpus Christi for their game at Frisco (Rangers).

He’ll alternate playing second base and designated hitter for four games and then will report to the Astros’ Class AAA Oklahoma City club and play exclusively second base, according to the current plan.

The Astros have a few different timetables drawn up for him, but the length of his rehab, which by major league rules is a maximum of 20 days, could land anywhere, manager Brad Mills said.

“Any time you add a professional hitter, you’re going to get better,” Mills said, brushing off the notion that his arrival would be particularly welcomed with the state of his current 14-23 squad.

The offseason acquisition of Bill Hall to play second base projected Keppinger into only a utility role this year after starting at second base most of 2011. However, given Hall’s struggles and Mills’ willingness to insert other players in the rotation there, Keppinger could have an opportunity to win some significant playing time.

Welcome relief

Wilton Lopez and Mark Melancon each pitched a perfect inning in relief of Wandy Rodriguez, and speaking of relief, it was the best outing for Lopez since he returned from the disabled list.

The right-hander blew through Ramon Hernandez, Jay Bruce and Paul Janish in the span of six pitches after walking a batter in three of his previous four appearances.

Big deal, right? Well, considering that Lopez unintentionally walked four batters in 67 innings last year and four in his first eight innings this year, the Astros were starting to think so.

“The coaching staff and myself had a discussion this morning, and that came up, and the consensus from just about all of us was that he hasn’t been pitching all that much since he came back from the injury, and he’s a guy who likes to throw and needs to be on the mound throwing,” manager Brad Mills said.

Perhaps not a coincidence, then, was the fact that Wednesday was Lopez’s first time pitching the second half of back-to-back days since his return.

Odds and ends

Bill Hall and Carlos Lee were out of the lineup in part because they were a combined 0-for-17 against Reds starter Edinson Volquez. Their absence gave Matt Downs a rare start and Brian Bogusevic his first start of the season.

…Jason Michaels went 1-for-4 with an RBI single in what was intended to be his final rehab game for Class AAA Oklahoma City.